New concept
Real or unreal?
Not every if is a daydream. When something might really happen, Finnish keeps the plain present in both halves — and the present also covers the future:
| Real — it might happen | Unreal — imagined |
|---|---|
| Jos sataa, jäämme kotiin. | Jos sataisi, jäisimme kotiin. |
| If it rains, we'll stay at home. | If it rained, we'd stay at home. |
| Jos ehdit, soita minulle. | Jos ehtisit, soittaisitko minulle? |
| If you have time, ring me. | If you had time, would you ring me? |
The endings alone flip reality into imagination. English does the same with rains → rained, will → would — Finnish just does it with -isi-.